Friday, December 30, 2011

NEWPORT BEACH, USA: Acacia Research Corp. announced that a subsidiary has acquired 26 optical networking patents from a major technology company.

“As Acacia’s licensing success grows, an increasing number of major technology companies are selecting us as their partner for the licensing of their patented technologies,” commented Paul Ryan, Acacia chairman and CEO. “Acacia is rapidly becoming the leader in technology licensing and we continue to grow our base of future revenues by adding new patent portfolios.”

NEW YORK, USA: Reportlinker.com announced that a new market research report is available in its catalog: Asia Fixed Broadband and Internet Market and Forecasts.

Despite rapid growth a significant 'digital gap' remains in broadband markets across AsiaThis market report provides a comprehensive overview of the broadband internet segment of the telecom market across the various economies of Asia. Asia makes a strong claim to be leading the world when it comes to the development of broadband internet. In some of Asia's markets broadband has become the fastest growing telecom market segment.

The energetic expansion of broadband was for a long time, however, a phenomenon limited to the developed economies, with narrowband dial-up access being the norm in the majority of the poorer developing countries of the region. This is now changing rapidly, but for the time being there remains a 'digital gap'. In those economies where the broadband market has created a strong presence, both DSL and cable modem platforms have both proved popular, with DSL establishing a clear advantage.

Asia has become the leading region in the world for DSL, with close to 40 percent of the global DSL subscribers to be found in the region. More recently, we have seen the advent of FttX as an alternative platform for broadband access in Asia. FttX already comprises over 50 percent of the high speed internet access connections in the leading technology markets of Japan and South Korea.

As broadband internet continues to extend its presence across Asia, the region's broadband market finds itself dominated by six 'players.' These 'High' ranked markets are predominantly the economies of North Asia.

South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Macau, Taiwan and Japan, for the moment at least, have left the rest of the region behind in terms of both penetration and sophistication of their broadband services and infrastructure. The penetration gap is clearly seen in the Exhibit below.

South Korea has been the most remarkable example of the Asian broadband revolution in the leading markets. By mid-2011 broadband subscriber penetration had passed 35 percent, and over 95 percent of households in the country had very high speed broadband internet connections.

Another market of special note in the region is Singapore where the government has been implementing broadband internet access – wired and wireless - for the whole of the island state. The Infocomm Development Authority (IDA), Singapore's telecom regulator, has been reporting what it referred to as the 'Household Broadband Penetration Rate'. This had reached 165 percent by May 2010.

In fact, it was becoming a meaningless figure and in March 2011 the IDA started reporting on the 'Residential Wired Broadband Household Penetration Rate'. This measured the total number of residential wired broadband subscriptions per household, and excluded all wireless access plans previously included (3G, 3.5G/HSDPA, WiMAX and Wi-Fi hotspots).

The Residential Wired Broadband Household Penetration Rate was 103 percent as of May 2011, with 1.2 million wired broadband households.

The regional broadband market in Asia consists of a large number of relatively small countries. There continues to be considerable activity in the internet and online markets across Asia ranging from China's impressive progress in terms of sheer scale to Mongolia which has doubled household penetration to over 10 percent and implemented numerous e-government initiatives.

China, with over 140 million broadband subscribers is still undergoing broadband subscriber growth in excess of 20 percent per annum despite already being the largest broadband internet market in the world.

For the economies that fall outside the top band of Asian internet markets, two distinct groupings appear in terms of broadband household penetration. The countries in the second band – roughly between 5 percent and 40 percent household penetration – are busily expanding their broadband capability.

While the countries in this second group are closing in on the top six, for the time being there remains a clear gap - almost 30 percent on the household penetration scale - to be bridged before a position can be claimed in the top grouping.

Of the larger markets in this group, Malaysia and Vietnam are playing significant roles; in the last few years both operators and governments in these markets have started to give priority to expanding internet access and speed. There are a few relative newcomers to this group, too, Azerbaijan being one example of recent rapid growth. Although the clear leader with the number of broadband lines deployed, China remains in this middle grouping due to its huge population.

In the third grouping are those countries that, for whatever reason, have not yet 'got their act together' when it comes to internet. Of course, some are performing relatively well under difficult circumstances. Indonesia has major infrastructure challenges to overcome in providing internet to its citizens across a sprawling archipelago.

Sri Lanka is making a big effort as part of its recovery from the long-running civil war. India, like China, is struggling with its huge population and has focused on mobile telephony services. At the bottom end of the scale, however, a number of countries are simply managing with poor telecom infrastructure and generally underdeveloped regulatory regimes coupled with low GDP per capita.

PARIS, FRANCE: Alcatel-Lucent is to enable the Asia Pacific Telecom Co. Ltd (APT), a leading fixed, mobile and Internet service provider in Taiwan, to expand its delivery of high-speed 3G services and meet customers’ growing demand for video, Internet and data services on-the-move.

As demand in Taiwan for mobile Internet access continues to grow as a result of increasing ownership of smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices, APT will, in the second half of 2012, extend its existing comprehensive list of fixed and mobile services to deliver seamless data services - including the latest multimedia applications - to business and residential customers. This will provide a new experience for customers, enabling them to switch from text to voice to video on the communications most convenient at the time and wherever they are – in the home, office or on the move.

Alcatel-Lucent’s support of APT’s service expansion marks the first wireless network the company has supplied to the operator. Over the course of the supply agreement, Alcatel-Lucent will replace equipment previously supplied to APT by other vendors. Additionally, as it continues to evolve its network to offer even higher speeds and a greater variety of services, APT will be able to utilise Alcatel-Lucent’s breakthrough lightRadio portfolio to further expand and differentiate its service offers.

Sophia Chiu, chairman of the Asia Pacific Telecom, said: “APT is committed to ‘Making Better Changes’ for our customers and working with Alcatel-Lucent we will be able to do this, offering our customers seamless fixed and mobile broadband services to enrich their business and social lives.”

Rajeev Singh-Molares, president of Alcatel-Lucent’s Asia-Pacific region, said: “Our long history of working with Asia Pacific Telecom means we understand the company’s needs and those of its customers. We are excited now to be able to help transform its wireless offer, leveraging our leading 3G CDMA and LTE solutions and our IMS portfolio. This will allow APT to satisfy customers’ needs today while evolving the company’s network to provide even more enhanced mobile data services and choices for its customers in the future. APT will also be able to leverage our innovative lightRadio portfolio in the future, allowing them to further grow their network and market position."

Under this agreement, Alcatel-Lucent is delivering its market-leading 3G mobile broadband solution, which is based on CDMA EV-DO technology and its proprietary IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) technology. Alcatel-Lucent will also deploy its full services expertise in the delivery and integration of third party equipment.

Thursday, December 29, 2011

NEW DELHI, USA: Airtel Digital TV, the DTH service from Bharti Airtel, announced the addition of ‘ESPN HD’ and ‘Star Cricket HD’ to its Real HD portfolio.

With this Airtel digital TV has augmented its Real HD channel count to 14 - the highest in India and total channel count to 275 that include 242 Standard Definition (SD) channels and 14 Real High Definition (HD) channels. The addition is consistent with Airtel digital TV’s promise of enriching the experience of its customers across India with a strikingly superior quality, audio-video experience.

According to Shashi Arora, CEO - DTH/Media, Bharti Airtel: “Bharti Airtel has always taken the lead in continually bringing in richer content and a superior experience for its customers. Apart from having the most number of sports channels on Real HD, Airtel digital TV also packs in Real HD channels across other available genres be it movies, wildlife, infotainment or entertainment. We believe the category will continue to be a key growth driver for us going forward and this latest addition to our channel bouquet will offer a compelling service proposition for DTH customers.”

The new channels ‘ESPN HD’ and ‘Star Cricket HD’ will be available to all the customers on channel No. 220 and 221 respectively. ‘Ten HD’ available at Channel No. 223 will be a part of ala carte HD top up priced at Rs. 34 inclusive tax each per month, whereas ‘ESPN HD’ and ‘Star Cricket HD’ will be available at Rs. 40 each or at a combo pack of Rs. 55 per month.

To add any of these channels, customers just need to send an SMS, ‘ADD channel number’ from their registered telephone number to 54325. Alternatively, the customers can order the channels from Self Care on the web-www.airtel.in/digitaltv OR through the Self Care application on their mobile. The customers also have an option of three language interfaces on their Programme Guide to chose from - English, Hindi and Tamil.

FORT LEE & HAWTHORNE, USA: ORBCOMM Inc. and Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) announced the launch schedule for ORBCOMM’s second generation (OG2) satellites. The updated plan includes launching the first OG2 prototype satellite on the first Cargo Re-supply Services (CRS) mission in mid-2012, followed closely by an additional launch of two OG2 satellites into a high inclination orbit as a secondary payload in late 2012.

In early 2013, SpaceX plans to launch eight to twelve OG2 satellites, and the remainder of the constellation of 18 OG2 satellites is expected to be launched in 2014. All launches are expected to be on Falcon 9 rockets.

In transitioning the launch of the first OG2 prototype spacecraft to the first CRS mission in lieu of the upcoming Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) mission, and adding the launch of two spacecraft toward the second half of 2012, ORBCOMM is able to field additional spacecraft in 2012 resulting in increased coverage, while spreading the deployment across multiple launches thereby reducing risk. SpaceX will fully verify the mission performance on the COTS mission and focus on the successful berthing of the Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS).

The inclusion of two OG2 satellites as a secondary payload on a high inclination insertion orbit will enable ORBCOMM to significantly improve messaging services in polar latitudes. Additionally, it provides the ability to thoroughly test and verify OG2 satellite performance before the primary launch of eight to 12 OG2 satellites.

“We are excited to put ORBCOMM’s second generation satellites into orbit as scheduled, in the most desirable inclinations with the least amount of risk.” said Elon Musk, founder and CEO of SpaceX. “ORBCOMM has been a great partner and we are looking forward to launch.”

“We are pleased that SpaceX has offered ORBCOMM this opportunity to launch two satellites that will help our customers using our OG2 messaging services, and additionally augment service to our maritime Automatic Identification System (AIS) customers that benefit from coverage at higher inclinations,” said Marc Eisenberg CEO of ORBCOMM. “The net outcome of these revised launch plans has us launching OG2 satellites at a faster pace with less risk.”

The parameters of the Falcon 9 launch of eight to 12 OG2 satellites as its primary mission in early 2013 will be optimized to ensure the best coverage for the enhanced OG2 messaging services. ORBCOMM expects several OG2 satellites will be directly inserted into a specific plane to immediately improve messaging services while other satellites will be put into a transfer orbit and drift to their final orbit location.

ORBCOMM expects the drifting operation will take several months to occur and that the satellites will be functional and providing messaging services during this period.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

PALO ALTO, USA: Ozmo Devices, the innovator in low-power Wi-Fi Personal Area Network (Wi-Fi PAN) semiconductors and software, announced the successful Wi-Fi Direct certification of its OZMO2000 Wireless Mouse reference design by the Wi-Fi Alliance. Wireless human interface device (HID) product developers can now utilize this reference design to develop devices, which can also be certified.

The certification indicates that the OZMO2000 Wireless Mouse reference design is compliant with dual-band 2.4GHz and 5.0GHz Wi-Fi a/b/g and includes support for the other critical features for Wi-Fi Direct: WPA2 security, Wi-Fi Multimedia (WMM), and Wi-Fi Protected Setup for ease of use and instant pairing of the mouse with the target PC.

Wi-Fi Direct is an important program for developing compatible Wi-Fi-connected devices in a variety of environments, including situations where a traditional wireless network does not exist. Wi-Fi Direct-certified devices can connect at any place and at any time with the full capability and security of Wi-Fi – using WPA2 for security and Wi-Fi Protected Setup for simplified connection configuration.

Support for Wi-Fi Direct is expanding rapidly with nearly 400 products and reference designs already receiving Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Wi-Fi Direct designation. With this new Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ mouse reference design, wireless HID products can be developed that will be readily applicable to usage with any of the growing number of Wi-Fi Direct-capable products.

“We congratulate Ozmo on achieving Wi-Fi Direct certification,” said Edgar Figueroa, CEO, Wi-Fi Alliance. “Becoming Wi-Fi CERTIFIED shows Ozmo’s dedication to furthering the use of Wi-Fi technology and commitment to interoperability among Wi-Fi-enabled devices. Human interface devices like the Ozmo mouse are an example of a new use case for Wi-Fi Direct.”

For wireless product developers, Wi-Fi technology, especially as it is embodied in the OZMO2000 chip, is the ideal solution for any short-range application such as PC peripherals, high-fidelity audio products like gaming headsets, and consumer electronics device peripherals. Unlike other short-range RF technologies, Ozmo’s ultra-low power Wi-Fi solutions are compatible with a ubiquitous standard and support very high bit-rates.

“Ozmo Devices is fully committed to developing products which are standards-compliant and interoperable,” said Bill McLean, CEO of Ozmo Devices. “Being Wi-Fi CERTIFIED will allow our customers the greatest flexibility and a broad usage base.”

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

ROLLING MEADOWS, USA: Global nonprofit IT association ISACA shared recommendations today for managing three of the trends widely cited to dominate the IT landscape in 2012: Big Data, the consumerization of information technology (BYOD) and the growing dominance of mobile devices.

Big data--coaxing order out of chaos“Big Data” describes not only the extremely large volumes of data being collected by enterprises in an increasingly connected world, but also their diverse sources, including social networks, sensor networks, customer chat sessions and more.

“Big Data is going to evolve out of its ‘shiny new object’ status in 2012. IT leaders will need to figure out how to coax order out of the chaos from all those zeroes and ones, as well as optimize ROI and manage data privacy,” said Ken Vander Wal, CISA, CPA, international president of ISACA.

According to the complimentary ISACA white paper Data Analytics—A Practical Approach, enterprises should aim for early success by using analytics across many projects for greater insight, performing ad hoc analysis to support key areas of risk, and defining measures of success along the way.

Invasion of consumer devicesThe consumerization of IT, marked by the invasion of employee-owned smartphones and tablet devices into the workplace, is predicted to be another major trend in 2012. Employees who use their own devices for work functions gain flexibility and can be more productive, but those devices are typically more difficult for IT to secure and manage.

“BYOD—or Bring Your Own Device—is a fast-moving train. IT departments have to jump on it or risk getting left at the station,” said Robert Stroud, CGEIT, CRISC, past international vice president of ISACA and vice president, Innovation and Strategy, CA Technologies.

“Organizations that embrace the BYOD trend need to consider a two-pronged approach to security by focusing on both the device and the data it can access. In 2012, we should see an increased focus on the mobile device and its access to information. IT will need to answer questions such as, ‘Who is accessing corporate information, when and from what device? Is the device trustworthy?’” said Stroud.

IT professionals’ acceptance of this trend is mixed. More ISACA members in Europe, North America and Oceania say their enterprises allow employees to use corporate IT assets and time for personal purposes to promote work-life balance, while those in Asia, Latin America and Africa say their enterprises generally restrict this due to security concerns, according to the recent 2011 ISACA Shopping on the Job Survey: Online Holiday Shopping and BYOD Security.

Growth in mobile equals growth in threatsOne of most prominent elements in the 2012 security landscape will be the growth of mobile devices, including everything from smartphones and tablet computers to laptops and Universal Serial Bus (USB) memory sticks.

“2012 will see a sharp increase in attacks targeted at mobile devices, either to exploit them or use them as an access point to corporate networks,” said John Pironti, CISM, CRISC, CISSP, security advisor, ISACA, and president, IP Architects.

ISACA advises that information security managers need to create an easily understood and executable policy that protects against the data leakage and malware – and then communicate it. In ISACA’s recent BYOD survey of 1,224 US consumers, 16 percent of respondents say their organization does not have a policy prohibiting or limiting personal activities on work devices, and another 20 percent do not know if one exists.

Setting and communicating policies are central to effective governance of enterprise IT (GEIT), which is a priority with most enterprises, according to the fourth Global Status Report on the Governance of Enterprise IT (GEIT)—2011 by ISACA’s research affiliate, the IT Governance Institute (ITGI).

Only 5 percent of business executives and heads of information technology surveyed indicated that they do not consider it important, and two-thirds of enterprises have some GEIT activities in place. However, the survey uncovered opportunity for IT leaders to be more proactive, especially in striking a balance between innovation projects and “run the business” tasks.

PADERBORN, GERMANY: According to leading analysts, the telematics sector represents one of the greatest business opportunities for Machine-to-Machine (M2M). From less than 90 million connections globally in 2010 the automotive M2M market will grow to almost 1.4 billion connections by the end of 2020; expecting that the sector will generate €157 billion revenue in 2020.

Amongst others, one of the biggest revenue generating segments will be tracking in the area of logistics. Orga Systems focuses exactly on that domain of vehicle and transportation telematics, supporting service providers in designing flexible and high value-added services as well as innovative solutions.

Monitoring events at all timeOrga Systems’ solution makes use of an on-board unit which manages not only the wireless communication to a Service Center but also GPS-supported navigation as well as the monitoring of cargo with the help of a "Cargo Bay Unit".

Depending on the type of cargo, various sensors can be utilized monitor temperature, vibration, pressure, position or other factors. The unique feature of this solution is the flexibility, which enables the customer to change the tariff model at any time to match the requirements according to the cargo and retrieving the current status online and as often as necessary. Depending on cargo type, route and customer, Orga Systems’ solution allows a logistics provider to choose different combinations of vehicle tracking as well as adjusting the frequency of monitoring events.

IT-based services for logistic industry’s needsOrga Systems’ ensures management, charging and monetization of customizable value-added services in transportation telematics for all services. Its expertise and experience for almost two decades in leading policy management, real-time rating, charging and billing enables logistic companies to combine IT-based services according to their needs as well as using them remotely via internet.

The solution is supported by OPSC Gold convergent billing technology which can be merged into a M2M service platform, being able to seamlessly integrate with existing technology.

Monday, December 26, 2011

BANGALORE, INDIA: Telit Wireless Solutions, a global leader in machine-to-machine (M2M) wireless technology, has entered into a binding agreement to purchase Navman Wireless OEM Solutions, a leading designer and manufacturer of world-class Global Positioning System (GPS) modules and solutions, for $3 million in cash.

This latest Telit acquisition comes on the heels of its March 2011 acquisition of Motorola Solutions' M2M business and its July 2011 acquisition of Globalconect, an M2M services and connectivity business. Navman is expected to generate approximately $7.1 million of revenue and $0.2M of EBITDA in the year to Dec. 31, 2011. The transaction will be completed on Jan. 3, 2012.

According to Telit CEO Oozi Cats, the acquisition of Navman’s technology and its US- based executive engineering and sales staff will make Telit a major contender in the GPS market while providing an enhanced product portfolio for its M2M customers.“The Navman acquisition provides Telit access to new GPS customers and products beyond the traditional M2M industry,” Cats said. “Navman’s reputation for delivering state-of-the-art GPS technology and the global reach of Telit’s sales and marketing organization put us in a strong position of growth in the GPS sector.”

“In addition, the acquisition strengthens our position as the premier product and consultative partner in the M2M industry by leveraging the synergies of both companies to better serve our global customers,” Cats said.

George Arnott, VP, global OEM solutions, Navman Wireless OEM Solutions, who will be managing the business unit under Telit’s ownership, said: “We are excited about the prospect of working with the Telit team to continue bringing our quality GPS module solutions to the market. With our pioneering GPS engineering background, we are also excited about the possibility of creating new hybrid GPS and wireless M2M innovations for Telit customers.”

According to the “World GPS Market Forecast to 2013” from RNCOS, shipments of GPS devices will grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 20 percent this year through 2013 to reach 900 million units sold generating more than $70 billion in annual revenue.

Part of the current technology revolution known as “The Internet of Things,” M2M is a fast-growing $50 billion business transforming society through innovative connectivity in industries as diverse as healthcare, energy, transportation, security and consumer electronics. M2M delivers significant power and cost savings while increasing efficiency and reliability through cellular or other wireless platforms.

DUBLIN, IRELAND: Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Optical Communications Market Forecast Report and Database" report to its offering.

There was plenty of good news in 2011 for the communications industry. To start with, total revenues of top 12 service providers increased by 7.5 percent in 2011, after two years of stagnation in 2009 and 2010. Mobile broadband services and cloud computing are driving this growth. While carriers are seeing improvement in their top lines, they are still being cautious about capital expenditures (CapEx) given the market uncertainty.

The forecast report presents analysis of business and CapEx of the top 12 service providers, as well as trends in networking equipment market and business of leading equipment manufacturers. The report also offers a detailed forecast for optical components and modules, including historical data from 2008 to 2011 and a detailed market forecast through 2015 for optical components and modules used in Ethernet, Fibre Channel, SONET/SDH, CWDM/DWDM, wireless infrastructure, FTTx, and high performance computing (HPC) applications.

The sales data for 2008 to 2011 account for more than 30 transceiver vendors, including 25 vendors that shared confidential sales data with LightCounting. The market forecast for 2012-2015 is based on LightCounting's model correlating transceiver sales with network traffic growth and projected subscribers of FTTx systems. LightCounting's team of analysts is also grateful to many industry experts for critical review of the forecast projections.

Over the long term, for a mature market, CapEx should grow in line with revenue growth. In the short term, CapEx can rise and fall as individual technology programs are implemented and the policies of company managers change. As economic conditions improve, companies typically increase CapEx investments faster than revenue increases, to position themselves to capitalize on rising sales.

If not for the macroeconomic uncertainty in 2011, CapEx of top 12 carriers should have been up by more than 7.5 percent, but the actual numbers suggest only 5 percent increase in CapEx for the year. To be fair, the CapEx did increase by 3 percent in 2010, while sales were stagnating.

Friday, December 23, 2011

EL SEGUNDO, USA: Following two years of decline and stagnation, global spending on wireless infrastructure gear is set to return to growth in 2011 as carriers migrate their networks to newer-generation technologies.

The worldwide wireless infrastructure equipment market is projected to generate growth of 9.1 percent in 2011, with revenue rising to $42.5 billion, up from $38.98 billion in 2010, according to the IHS iSuppli Mobile & Wireless Communications Service.

This healthy expansion follows a 7.2 percent decline in 2009 and essentially flat revenue in 2010. IHS forecasts that global spending by wireless carriers worldwide on wireless infrastructure equipment will grow at low single-digit rates through 2015, by which time the global mobile infrastructure market will exceed $45.1 billion, as presented in the figure.Source: IHS iSuppli, USA.

“Throughout the world—from the developed economies of North America, Europe and North Asia, to the developing regions of Latin America, Africa and South Asia—carriers are seeing the value of upgrading their wireless networks,” said Dr. Jagdish Rebello, director, communications and consumer electronics, for IHS. “Despite significant economic headwinds, demand for higher data rates is compelling carriers to invest in new equipment, driving growth in infrastructure gear sales in 2011 and beyond.”

Moving to next generationThe expansion of the wireless infrastructure market in 2011 is being fueled by carriers around the world investing in 3.5G/3.75G network upgrades, as well as the migration to 4G long term evolution (LTE) by some carriers in Europe, Japan, the United States and South Korea.

All of the carriers in the developed nations are focusing on investing in incremental network technology upgrades to 3.5G, 3.75G and 3.9G technologies. However, several carriers are going further and have commenced trials and are beginning to deploy and commercially operate 4G LTE networks.

Migration machinationsMeanwhile, carriers in many of the emerging markets also are upgrading their 2.5G networks to 3.5G technologies and offering new data-centric services to customers. To be sure, carriers are not immune to the global economic downturn in the emerging markets of Latin America, South Asia and Africa, and the pace of investments in networking infrastructure has been slower than in previous years.

But, as data traffic has grown on their networks, many carriers have started to roll out 3G/3.5G networks. IHS expects that carriers in these regions of the world will move to transition their networks to 3.75G/3.9G technologies during the next few years.

This strategy of incremental technology migration has helped carriers keep pace with the bandwidth growth on their networks, without requiring a widespread rollout to orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA) based 4G LTE.

In areas of high data traffic—driven by increased consumer usage of mobile broadband with smartphones, connected notebooks and tablets—carriers are investing in channel card upgrades, integrating more channel cards in existing base stations. They also are selectively deploying new 3.75G/3.9G base stations to support higher data through puts.

In most cases, carriers in the developed world have already built out their 3.5G networks—so investments in expanding geographic coverage have been minimal.

LTE on the riseWhile 3.5G/3.75G is still the dominant air interface technology in terms of the mobile infrastructure market, the market for 4G LTE mobile infrastructure is now gaining momentum. Beginning in the second half of 2009, some of the wireless operators in Europe, North America, Japan and South Korea started to deploy 4G LTE.

The deployments started to gather momentum in 2010 with approximately 160 mobile network operators (MNOs) announcing their intent to launch, trail, deploy or commercially operate LTE technologies by the end of the year.

To date, the number of carriers that are trialing, deploying or commercially operating 4G LTE networks has grown to slightly less than 200 operators globally. The majority of the early operator activity is concentrated in Europe and Asia-Pacific, followed by North America, Middle East/Africa and Latin America.

In comparison, commercial deployments through 2011 have centered primarily in Europe, North America, South Korea and Japan. As operators accelerate their migration to 4G LTE, the wireless value chain is keeping in step, with 4G LTE device launches and chipset evolution accelerating as well.

IHS expects that LTE soon will be the dominant 4G technology. LTE offers operators the advantages of data rates of up to 100 Mbit/Sec., reduced latency, flexible bandwidth provisioning, increased cell capacity, flat IP-based network architecture, and reduced cost-per-data-bit transmitted. But LTE will require significant infrastructure capital investments, given that existing 3G base stations will not be compatible without LTE or if significant modifications are not made.

Global revenue in 2011 for 3G and 3.5G infrastructure gear will reach their peak in 2011. Beginning in 2012, factory revenue for 3G/3.5G wireless technologies will start to decline as carriers migrate to 4G LTE. IHS expects that starting in 2013, 4G will account for the largest portion of the global wireless infrastructure market, increasing to approximately $36.1 billion in 2015.

NEW DELHI, INDIA: With growing urbanization, more and more people consider mobile phones as the ‘absolute necessities of life’ Attitude, Funk, Style and Fashion LAVA partners with MTV India to get the newest range of stylish phones for the consumers of today.

Taking this into consideration, Lava Mobiles, with the distinctive motto of providing the power of communication in every hand, today, unveiledan exciting new phone the Lava A16 MTV Phone, which has a unique combination of contemporary style and superior value that is specially designed for MTV generation.

SN Rai, director, Lava International, said: “Consumers are a fragmented lot, either they are considered to be tech-leaders/tech-savvy users or they primarily use their phones to stay connected and look good while doing so. We felt there was a definite gap in the market for mobile phones that cater to both ends of this scale. And this prompted us to launch Lava A16 that combines elegance and technology.”

Crafted with premium and sophisticated design elements, the Lava A16 has a cool look and feel to it and offers immense style as well as substance. It has a fashionable back cover with soft contours for easy handling, an animated Graphical User Interface (GUI) with multiple wallpapers & themes and is substantiated with trendy matching accessories that create an inviting look and feel that attracts attention.

In addition to a 3.2MP camera with LOMO effect to capture the wonderful moments, the phone is loaded with a 2.6” IPS screen which provides high-resolution widescreen viewing and enhanced user experience ensuring bright and clear multimedia experience.

The multimedia experience is simply superb complemented by its integrated Yamaha PA system, live wallpapers and multiple themes. The earphones come with SRS WOW HD experience and dedicated controls on the earphones allow its user to control the music without fiddling with the handset. Consumers don't need to hold the phone in their hands at all times. Their hands are free as they are.

Equipped with a good social networking application – Facebook ready, to enable the users to stay connected forever, the stylishly designed Lava A16 will be the latest addition to the extensive range of Lava phones.

Apart from the eye-catching styling that makes Lava A16 different, the phone is also equipped with privacy features that will allow consumers to take full control of their phones. These features are designed to protect privacy by locking the SMS and pictures enabling more flexibility and control to the user.

With changing cellphone landscape and growing awareness, there is a propensity among consumers to choose key features and striking looks over price as the key point in influencing their purchase decision. And this is what Lava A16 phone aims to achieve with its blend of enhanced performance and unmatched look and styling.

Lava Phones has a terrific track record within the Indian youth market with their earlier launches like A10, M30, M70 & smartphone S12.

Priced competitively between the range of Rs. 4,000-Rs. 4,500, the Lava A16 phones will be readily available across all leading retail outlets in India.

SAN DIEGO, USA: Qualcomm Inc. announced that the US Federal Communications Commission has approved the sale of its Lower 700 MHz D and E Block (Channel 55 and 56) unpaired US spectrum licenses to AT&T. The sale by Qualcomm to AT&T of the licenses for $1.925 billion was originally announced in December, 2010. The proposed transaction has been pending subject to the satisfaction of the conditions of closing.

In connection with the announcement of the transaction in 2010, AT&T indicated that, as part of its longer term 4G network plan, it intends to deploy this spectrum as supplemental downlink, using carrier aggregation technology. This new technology is designed to deliver substantial capacity gains by enabling unpaired spectrum to be used in conjunction with paired spectrum for 4G services.

Qualcomm is integrating carrier aggregation technology into its chipset roadmap to enable supplemental downlink and intends to market the technology globally. This new technology is expected to create opportunities around the world in regions where unpaired spectrum bands can be made available for wireless operators to use in conjunction with existing paired bands in order to obtain substantial improvements in their mobile broadband networks.

"We are very pleased that the FCC has approved the sale of our spectrum licenses and look forward to working with AT&T to deploy supplemental downlink. This is a positive outcome for Qualcomm and our stakeholders," said Dr. Paul E. Jacobs, chairman and CEO of Qualcomm. "We would like to express our appreciation to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, his fellow FCC Commissioners and the FCC staff. The use of supplemental downlink will enable the efficient use of unpaired spectrum for mobile broadband in the US and a richer, faster mobile experience for consumers."

Centro GPS will be renamed Garmin Chile and will continue operations at its current facilities located in Santiago, which employs approximately 25 associates.

“We are happy to welcome the Chilean team into the Garmin family,” said Dr. Min Kao, chairman and CEO of Garmin Ltd. “Garmin is investing heavily in the emerging South American market, and this is a key acquisition that will allow us to maintain a leadership role in this important region.”

The acquisition of Centro GPS is preceded by Garmin Ltd.’s opening of a Brazilian office in 2006, and represents its continued commitment to the emerging South American market. Financial terms of the transaction were not released.

Since its inception in 1989, Garmin has delivered 88 million GPS enabled devices – far more than any other navigation provider. Garmin’s market breadth in the GPS industry is second to none, having developed innovative products and established a leadership position in each of the markets it serves, including automotive, aviation, marine, fitness, outdoor recreation, tracking, and wireless applications.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

LONDON, UK: The number of operator contracts is sharply rising, but the number of femtocell shipments is hardly keeping pace. Only 2.5 million femtocells shipped in 2011, a disappointment from the three to four million that were expected.

Fueling the higher expectations was the increase in femtocell commercial operator contracts, which totaled 88 in 2011. Included are individual operator contracts awarded to femtocell vendors, as well as multi-vendor contracts offered by some operators.

Out of the 88 contracts, 37 operators have launched services, with many more expected to launch during 2012.

Alcatel-Lucent, Huawei, and Ubiquisys are closely tied in terms of the top share of contracts. Huawei and Alcatel-Lucent have 27 operator contracts each, while Ubiquisys has 28 contracts through NSN and NEC collectively.

However, the market share of unit shipments looks very different compared to the contract market share. Cisco/ip.access and Airvana/Ericsson are closely tied for top share and collectively represent 55 percent of the market’s shipment volume. Cisco/ip.access supplies to AT&T and Airvana/Ericsson supplies to Sprint.

“With two of the 37 femtocell operators making up 55% of the shipments, the risk is that the market will lose its momentum if the status quo doesn’t change,” says Aditya Kaul, practice director, mobile networks.

“Femtocells are still largely used as Band-Aid solutions by most operators to cover up coverage holes. While operators like SFR in France are attempting to move beyond the Band-Aid proposition and use it as a competitive acquisition tool, the market needs many more SFRs to carry the momentum forward and achieve true mass-market status.”

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, USA: D-Link successfully completed a new round of IPv6 interoperability testing at the University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory's (UNH-IOL) third IPv6 Customer Edge (CE) Router Interoperability Test Event held Nov. 7-11, 2011. This was D-Link's second successful participation in a UNH-IOL IPv6 CPE test event after the company became one of only two vendors to pass an earlier test program held in June 2011.

"D-Link's research and development teams are committed to expanding the range of DIR-Series routers that are primed and ready for IPv6 deployment," said William Brown, associate VP of product development, D-Link North America. "As the only major customer edge equipment vendor to pass this latest round of tests, D-Link's support and efforts to drive IPv6 remains steadfast."

The UNH-IOL's third IPv6 CE Router Interoperability Test Event brought together operators and CE Router vendors to prepare for the delivery of reliable, uninterrupted Internet service to new and existing customers using IPv6, and to enable end-user connectivity by ensuring IPv6 readiness in home or small office networking environments. During the event, the UNH-IOL used publically routable IPv6 addresses, allowing participants to connect to the global IPv6 Internet.

In addition to verifying that select D-Link DIR-Series routers are ready to be deployed in IPv6 networks, the test event proved support of transition mechanisms, such as 6rd, in some CE Routers, which is needed to maintain connectivity for subscribers when networks are not dual-stack (both IPv4 and IPv6). The full list of successfully tested devices can be viewed online.

The UNH-IOL also published the "IPv6 CE Router Interoperability Whitepaper" in conjunction with the IPv6 CE Router Interoperability Test Event. The whitepaper, authored by Timothy Winters, senior manager for the UNH-IOL, provides an overview of the test event, outlines the test methodologies used during the event, analyzes test results and offers an outlook on future testing efforts required for widespread deployment of IPv6 at the customer edge.

WEST CHESTER, USA: ESCORT Inc., designer and manufacturer of the world's best premium automotive accessories, and Siano, the world’s leading supplier of mobile broadcast DTV solutions, announced a collaborative agreement to design and market a product that will deliver mobile TV in automobiles via an iOS accessory.

Manufactured and distributed under the brand name “ESCORT MobileTV”, this small-size, custom designed accessory conveniently plugs into the car’s pre-installed iPad headrest mount. MobileTV is supported by Siano’s highly-integrated mobile DTV receiver chip and iOS digital TV middleware. With MobileTV, passengers can enjoy the true experience of personal, live TV in the comfort of their vehicle – while on the go!

“Teaming up with Siano has enabled ESCORT to deliver high-quality performance MDTV,” said John Larson, president and CEO of ESCORT. “Our successful collaboration with Siano to produce MobileTV has opened up an entire series of patent pending MDTV based products which we will announce in the near future.”

“When it comes to first-class automotive accessories, there are few partners who match the level of integrity and commitment we get from ESCORT,” said Alon Ironi, CEO of Siano. “Siano’s receiver chips and overall systems know-how, coupled with ESCORT’s engineers and state-of-the-art manufacturing facility, have resulted in high performance products with a very bright future. Looking at the evolution of the ATSC-M/H market, we believe that such products will be true enablers in this market.”

ESCORT MobileTV will be available for demonstrations at CES 2012 in Las Vegas with commercial availability during the first half of 2012.

CAMPBELL, USA: A new study published this week by market research firm Infonetics Research -- Service Provider Security Drivers, Spending, and Vendor Leadership: Global Survey -- provides insight into incumbent, mobile, security specialist, competitive and cable operators’ security investment plans and how they perceive various vendors in the network security market.

“The security market is ripe for a product manufacturer to come out with an end-to-end security story for service providers, offering solutions embedded into network elements, standalone security products for transport networks and the data center, and client solutions service providers can deliver for differentiation (or even monetizing),” advises Infonetics Research’s Jeff Wilson, principal analyst, security.

Survey highlights* Nearly every service provider interviewed by Infonetics expects to increase security spending over the next year, in absolute dollars and as a percent of capex.* The biggest drivers for service providers to deploy new security solutions are protection of customer data, network uptime, changes in the data center, and the increasing number and complexity of security threats.* The convergence of network traffic growth and increased security threats has spurred telecom operators to make investments in all areas of security, from basic firewalls and DDoS prevention to advanced protection against web-borne threats.* Data center consolidation and upgrades is forcing many service providers to invest in security solutions at two ends of the spectrum: extremely high performance hardware solutions that can handle hundreds of Gigabits to Terabits of traffic, and virtual appliances installed on virtualized servers (increasingly the deployment model of choice for securing cloud infrastructure and providing cloud security services).* Juniper, Symantec, McAfee, and Cisco lead for brand awareness among respondent operators.* Juniper received the best overall marks from operators, with the most respondents considering them a leader in technology, management, price-to-performance ratio (value), financial stability, and service and support.

“Regionally, non-SMS data revenues grew to 54 percent of total data in Western Europe and 72 percent in North America,” Kendall added. “Smartphones for existing wireless customers are a principal source of ARPU uplift which operators cannot afford to ignore. Tapping into the next wave of smartphone adoption through lower cost devices and entry-level data plans will be crucial to medium-term operator revenue growth.”

Sue Rudd, director of Service Provider Analysis at Strategy Analytics, added: “Unfortunately smartphones are not a panacea and are accelerating the decline in SMS revenues as Over-The-Top (OTT) messaging platforms, such as Blackberry Messenger, WhatsApp and Apple iMessage, dramatically increase. As a result, SMS ARPU fell in all regions. Many operators face a tricky balancing act as they seek price points for data plans that are low enough to stimulate demand but high enough to compensate for SMS cannibalization.”

CAMBRIDGE, USA: Asia-Pacific's total fiber subscriptions are expected to nearly triple from 73.5 million in 2011 to reach 204.9 million by 2016, creating an edge for fixed operators to better compete against both the cable providers and mobile operators in a fixed environment, according to a new report from Pyramid Research.

Fixed Operators in Asia-Pacific Put Their Future in the Hands of Fiber Networks outlines the competitive landscape in the broadband space in Asia-Pacific, highlighting the dynamics among fixed operators, mobile operators and MSOs.

Pyramid Research then examines how a next-generation infrastructure such as FTTx can help fixed operators enhance their service offerings now and in the future. Pyramid Research also discusses the social and environmental benefits that fiber enables. The report concludes with two case studies highlighting successful fiber deployments.

"Fiber is the future for fixed operators in Asia-Pacific, and it's an investment none can overlook," says Daniel Yu, associate manager at Pyramid Research. A nationwide fiber deployment has great social and environmental impacts that can benefit fixed operators in the long term. By improving the flow of information and extending the reach of information, a fiber network can enhance the educational and healthcare systems for the country, consequently increasing the country's competitiveness and economic output. As the underprivileged become more sophisticated, with more spending power, it opens up new business opportunities for fixed operators.

China Mobile is the largest mobile telecom operator in China with over 638 million customers. Products incorporating Vivante technologies are based on the Marvell® PXA920 (NASDAQ: MRVL) communications processor and ship in China Mobile OMS and Android TD smartphones from ASUS, Huawei, Lenovo, Samsung, ZTE and many others. The selection of Vivante GPU IP further validates the use of its technology for mass market products giving it a bright future as it expands its global business footprint.

Some of Vivante's key growth areas for business and product shipments include:

Growing customer base – An expanding and strong customer base made up of top tier OEM and silicon SoC vendors including market leaders in their respective segments comprising of consumer, embedded, automotive and medical.

Expansion of global footprint – Product shipments in emerging and high growth markets in key segments, and strategic partnerships with key global players and top regional companies.

"The transition to smartphones in emerging markets led by China, are the new drivers of growth in GPU powered handsets. A GPU vendor that can capture the lion's share of this market will enjoy tremendous advantages in the global ecosystem. Once a relative unknown, Vivante has become a force to be reckoned with in the GPU world," said Jon Peddie, president of Jon Peddie Research.

"China's TD market represents one of largest and fastest-growing sectors of the mobile industry globally. To succeed, it's critical to deliver high-performance silicon solutions that enable cutting-edge features efficiently at a competitive price point. Marvell's ongoing collaboration with Vivante, a proven IP supplier, has enabled us to rapidly create and ship industry-leading communications processors products targeted at these fast-growing markets," said Ivan Lee, VP, Mobile Products, at Marvell Semiconductor Inc.

"We always had a vision at Vivante of becoming the world's leading supplier of user-desired, mobile GPU technologies based on our core competence of GPU architectural innovations, low power expertise and customer service. The mass deployment of TD smartphones reaches a major milestone for the company, and we are very excited to be the leading GPU supplier in that segment," said Wei-Jin Dai, president and CEO of Vivante.

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEVN: Swiss consumers are enjoying data-rich services like never before. With mobile data usage expected to double during the year, Swisscom has entered into a five-year contract with Ericsson for mobile-network modernization and upgrade to LTE. The deal will ensure that Swisscom can continue to offer its users the best possible network in the most efficient way.

Ericsson will modernize 6,000 mobile sites with its RBS 6000 multi-standard radio base stations and optimize all of Swisscom's networks. The operator's mobile-data users all over the country - and especially those living in areas where traffic is dense, such as in inner cities - will benefit from faster speeds as a result.By making Ericsson the sole supplier for the modernization of its existing mobile-core and radio network, and the introduction of LTE, Swisscom extends its existing partnership, in which Ericsson has been the sole 2G, 3G radio and main mobile core supplier.

Heinz Herren, head of Network & IT, Swisscom, says: "By continuing to provide our subscribers with the best network possible while meeting the growing usage of mobile data, we will invest several hundred million Swiss Francs in mobile- network modernization over the next five years. Thanks to our long-lasting partnership, we are familiar with Ericsson's expertise in deploying new technologies, and we have already established processes that will allow us to make savings in this project."

Anders Runevad, head of Region Western & Central Europe at Ericsson says: "We are pleased to help Swisscom introduce LTE and allow its users to enjoy the benefits of LTE on their smartphones, laptops and tablets. As Ericsson sees mobility and broadband as pillars of the Networked Society, in which everyone and everything is connected, this extended partnership marks yet another step towards realizing that vision."

Under the five-year contract, Ericsson will deliver core network, multi- standard radio base stations for 2G, 3G and 4G, as well as related installation services for the swap of the existing infrastructure. This includes software, hardware and the introduction of small cells, mostly in traffic-dense areas. With this deployment Swisscom will have GSM, WCDMA and LTE access networks.

A key component in the core network is Ericsson's SGSN-MME node, which supports all three access technologies.The rollout will start in January 2012 and all mobile sites will be modernized by mid 2014.

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Tuesday, December 20, 2011

CAMBRIDGE, USA: Smartphone sales in Asia Pacific, having already reached record levels, will continue to grow through 2016 to represent 57 percent of handset sell-through in Asia-Pacific and represent 45 percent of global smartphone sell-through. The growth will be driven primarily by the affordability of devices, social networking apps, and operator incentives, according to a new report from Pyramid Research.

Smartphone Mania Creates Growth Opportunities for Vendors and Operators analyzes the underlying trends driving smartphone sales growth in Asia-Pacific. Declining prices for smartphones and service plans, the rise of smartphone apps and mobile social networking apps, and operator initiatives such as subsidies for smartphones all play a role in the considerable growth that the segment has experienced this year.

In the case studies, Pyramid Research examines the effect of mobile social networks such as Facebook on smartphone penetration, RIM’s role in the burgeoning smartphone market and compare subsidies for iPhones among different providers in Malaysia.

“Pyramid Research expects that smartphone unit sales in Asia-Pacific will grow at a 30 percent CAGR from 2011-2016, while smartphone ASPs will decline at a -10 percent CAGR over the same period,” says Emily Smith, Analyst at Pyramid Research.

Declining ASPs is the most important driver behind the increase in smartphone penetration in emerging AP markets like Indonesia, and it is playing a critical role in developed markets like Japan, as well. Demand for smartphones is also being fueled by apps, particularly those related to social networks and gaming as many people access social networks only over mobile devices.

In addition, subsidies for smartphones and application-specific data plans are important operator initiatives that have enabled a broader group of customers to purchase smartphones and have contributed to the rise in sales. “The increase in smartphone penetration represents a shift in how people in Asia-Pacific interact with their mobile handsets and is a big opportunity for operators, vendors and mobile content creators,” she adds.

MILPITAS, USA: Linear Technology Corp., a leader in high performance analog integrated circuits, announced the acquisition of Dust Networks Inc., a leading provider of low power wireless sensor network (WSN) technology.

The acquisition of Dust Networks, based in Hayward, CA, will enable Linear to offer a complete high performance wireless sensor networking solution. Dust Networks’ low power radio and software technology complements Linear’s strengths in industrial instrumentation, power management and energy harvesting technology.

Erik Soule, VP of Signal Conditioning and High Frequency products for Linear, stated: “Dust Networks offers the lowest power radio technology and most complete networking software for building industrial-grade wireless sensor networks. Combined with Linear’s precision low-power sensor interface products and battery-free energy harvesting technology, we can now offer the industry’s highest performance remote monitoring solutions.”

With the growing importance of machine-to-machine communications to enable remote data acquisition, low power wireless sensing is an emerging solution for many end-markets, including industrial process control, building automation and data center energy management.

Joy Weiss, president, Dust Networks, said: “Dust Networks and Linear are an excellent fit. We already have very complementary products and customers, and with Linear’s global sales reach we can be at the forefront, enabling sensor networks to go wireless on an even broader scale.”

“Smart Dust” was first conceived by Dr. Kris Pister, founder and chief technologist of Dust Networks, as a simple way to deploy intelligent wireless sensors. Dust Networks pioneered SmartMesh® networks that comprise a self-forming mesh of nodes, or “motes,” which collect and relay data, and a network manager that monitors and manages network performance and sends data to the host application. This technology is now the basis for a number of seminal networking standards.

The hallmark of Dust Networks’ technology is that it combines low power, standards-based radio technology, time diversity, frequency diversity, and physical diversity—to assure reliability, scalability, wire-free power source flexibility, and ease-of-use. All motes in a SmartMesh network—even the routing nodes—are designed to run on batteries for years, allowing the ultimate flexibility in placing sensors exactly where they need to go with low cost “peel and stick” installations.

Dust Networks’ customers range from the world’s largest industrial process automation and control providers such as GE and Emerson, to innovative, green companies such as Vigilent and Streetline Networks. Dust Networks’ technology can be found in a variety of monitoring and control solutions, including data center energy management, renewable energy, remote monitoring, and transportation.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Although there will be some transaction related costs, Dust’s ongoing results are not expected to be material in the short term to Linear’s financial statements.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, USA: The Ethernet switch-chip market grew to a record $1.6 billion in 2011 according to The Linley Group's recently released "A Guide Ethernet Switch and PHY Chips" report. This eighth edition report analyzes more than 15 vendors and provides strategic analysis, detailed product descriptions, design examples, a roadmap of future products where available, and head-to-head product comparisons.

Notable findings in the report include:* Although GbE provides the vast majority of switch-chip revenue, 10GbE is growing rapidly. Merchant switch-port shipments doubled in 2011, driven by increasing use of 10GbE top-of-rack (ToR) switches and blade-server fabrics.* Merchant 10GbE switch-port shipments will grow at an impressive CAGR of 38.6 percent through 2015. Growth accelerators for 10GbE switches include a server-upgrade cycle driven by Intel's upcoming Romley platform, a transition from ASIC-based switches to ASSP-based switches, and growth in cloud data centers.* Shipments of 10GBase-T copper PHYs will reach millions of ports in 2012 and then grow rapidly through 2015.* Carrier Ethernet is the biggest growth driver for GbE switch-chip shipments, while the lengthy transition of enterprises from FE to GbE also contributes to growth.

Monday, December 19, 2011

ENGLAND, UK: Blu Wireless Technology, based at SETsquared’s Business Acceleration Centre in Bristol, is one of five new technology businesses to win the Cambridge Wireless Discovering Start-Ups 2011 competition. The company was recognised for its low power 60GHz semiconductor technology.

The company was selected from 20 start-ups invited to pitch their innovative wireless technologies and business plans to 25 leading venture capitalists, angels and industry investors. Senior representatives from companies including Microsoft, RIM, Nokia, Qualcomm Ventures, Innovacom, Broadcom, Orange, O2 Telefonica and ARM were there to judge the finalists and provide expert advice.

The winners receive £2,000 each along with free business and consultancy services, and have the opportunity to present their new technologies and business visions to over 300 leading wireless industry delegates from more than 20 countries at the 2012 Future of Wireless International Conference next June.

“The quality of entrants shows that innovation and entrepreneurship is clearly very much alive,” said Clennell Collingwood, investment director at TTP Ventures. “It was difficult for us to pick out five winners and we are confident that all the Discovering Start-Up winners and many of the other finalists will go on to make important contributions to the wireless industry.”

Mark Barrett, CEO of Blu Wireless commented: “We are very pleased to win this award, as this provides further validation that our approach for delivering best–in-class 60GHz WiFi product has been recognised by leading investors and industry experts. Moreover, it also demonstrates that our capital-efficient approach is changing the investment paradigm for UK fabless semiconductor companies.”

Nick Sturge, centre director at SETsquared, says this highlights the exciting opportunities arising out of the highly innovative technology, and specifically the micro-electronics cluster in the Bristol and Bath area.

“Traditional VC investors are struggling to understand the opportunities around early stage, silicon-based technology businesses,” said Sturge. “But we can see that the good businesses – and we only support ones we believe in – are managing to gain the recognition and the funding they need, albeit at a slower speed than we would like. It is great – but not surprising – that Bristol companies are winning awards wherever they go.”

Blu Wireless Technology has already raised seed funding and is now actively discussing Round-A funding for the business.

REDWOOD CITY, USA: Recently published reports by Dell'Oro Group, the trusted source for market information about the networking and telecommunications industries, show that 44 percent of third-quarter annual growth in the total Mobile Infrastructure market resulted from 4G LTE network infrastructure spending.

The total mobile infrastructure market, covered by Dell'Oro Group in four primary reporting segments, Mobile Radio Access Network (RAN), Wireless Packet Core (WPC), Wireless Voice Core, and Microwave Transmission, grew year-over-year in double digits for the fourth consecutive quarter in 3Q11. During the same quarter, the LTE market achieved several milestones, including the following:

"Nearly half of the revenue growth in total mobility infrastructure for the third quarter resulted from LTE spending to cope with an expected influx of LTE capable handsets in 2012," said Stefan Pongratz, Analyst at Dell'Oro Group.

"The wireless industry is responding to changes in user behavior and accelerating data demand by shifting priorities towards Evolved Packet Core (EPC), Voice Over LTE (VoLTE) and LTE radio equipment," added Chris DePuy, Analyst at Dell'Oro Group. "This urgency in spending is creating both opportunities and threats to existing and new equipment vendors."

Dell'Oro Group's 3Q11 reports show that Ericsson's four quarter trailing revenue market share in mobile RAN, WPC, wireless voice core, and microwave transmission increased by four percentage points over the same quarter last year, while Nokia Siemens Networks and Huawei each captured about 18 percent of the market.

WAKEFIELD, USA: The NFC Forum, a non-profit industry association that advances the use of Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, and the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), the trade association responsible for the development, promotion and protection of the Bluetooth specification, announced the publication of Bluetooth Secure Simple Pairing Using NFC.

The new document provides developers with examples of how to implement Bluetooth Secure Simple Pairing (SSP) using NFC to take maximum advantage of both technologies when they are present in the same device. The publication is available for free download.

Bluetooth Secure Simple Pairing Using NFC describes the interaction of Bluetooth technology and NFC during SSP in detail and provides examples of both negotiated and static handover in the most feasible use cases involving both technologies. Developers will find the examples useful guides for their own work, including:

* Pairing devices with little or no user interface (such as headsets and pedometers) to smartphones.* Pairing devices with extensive user interfaces (such as cars) to smartphones.* Pairing devices such as TVs and smartphones to share photos or to use the phone as a remote control.

"Since its founding, the NFC Forum has worked hard to advance the market for NFC solutions – first by creating 16 technical specifications, and now, through collaboration with groups such as the Bluetooth SIG, to guide the development of solutions that build upon those specifications," said Koichi Tagawa, chairman of the NFC Forum. "Working with the globally recognized and embedded Bluetooth standard makes perfect sense for NFC. It reaffirms our commitment to broadening the commercialization of NFC solutions and providing new benefits to consumers."

"With over four billion Bluetooth technology enabled devices in market today and nearly two billion coming online in 2011 alone, Bluetooth technology has massive scale, support and runway for aggressive growth, and we’re excited to help developers leverage NFC in the right scenarios," said Michael Foley, executive director, Bluetooth SIG.

"The beauty of this collaboration is that the SIG, working with the NFC Forum, provides developers with even more design options for connecting Bluetooth devices. For those scenarios that make sense, and where both technologies are available, designing with Bluetooth Secure Simple Pairing using NFC should further empower developers to create great consumer experiences."

NFC Forum Application Documents are informative technical documents designed to promote NFC solutions in vertical markets and to foster best practices, by describing proposed solutions based on NFC Forum specifications.

PARIS, FRANCE: 4G chipmaker Sequans S.A. is the provider of the WiMAX chip inside the new WiMAX tablet recently made available by Sharp for its customers in Japan.

“Sharp’s tablet combines the latest features for usability and mobility in a perfect seven-inch size and we are pleased to contribute our WiMAX technology to this highly advanced product for Japanese consumers,” said Georges Karam, Sequans CEO. “With WiMAX, users can download videos, play games and surf the web at super high speed.”

The new Sharp tablet provides WiMAX and Wi-Fi connectivity. It carries a high-end platform the same as in 10-inch tablets, but comes in a slim and handy 7-inch size. It combines Sharp’s advanced technology and beautiful display with Google’s Android 3.2 (Honeycomb) platform and features a dual-core CPU and dual cameras.

“Sequans’ WiMAX chip technology is optimized for tablets and handsets and delivers all the advanced capabilities of WiMAX with very low power consumption,” said Masayuki Hachinoda, division GM, Media Tablet Business Center, Communication Systems Group, Sharp. “The excellence of Sequans’ semiconductor solutions combined with their long and successful track record in 4G are the reasons we selected Sequans’ technology for this new tablet design.”

The WiMAX chip inside the Sharp tablet is Sequans’ SQN1210, one of the most highly integrated semiconductor solutions in the industry. The SQN1210 is highly optimized for mobile handsets, delivering baseband and triple band RF integrated in a single, 65 nm die for ultra low power consumption and ultra high performance at a very low cost.

These innovations enable users to enjoy faster web browsing and smoother streaming media playback. The chip also features Sequans’ patented dual transmit uplink technology, a technology pioneered by Sequans that can greatly improve coverage and performance.

The new Sharp tablet is now available to consumers through a leading WiMAX network operator in Japan.

SAN FRANCISCO, USA: In its continuous effort to improve life for consumers, the Procter & Gamble Co. (P&G) is partnering with mobeam inc. to bring the first-ever fully mobile couponing system to market. The innovation, created by mobeam of California, makes electronic coupons presented on a phone or other mobile device scanable, so shoppers need only their phones/handhelds, not a stack of coupons, at check out.

Today, couponing represents a growing $3.7 billion segment of the consumer packaged goods (CPG) market in North America, with more than 300 billion coupons distributed every year and redemption on the increase as consumers strive for greater value and savings. While smartphones are supportingusers and simplifying life in a host of new ways, until now, phone couponing has not been an option because barcodes displayed on mobile phone screens are invisible to commonly used in-store laser scanners.

Smartphones support users and simplify life in a host of new ways, but phone couponing has not been an option until now because barcodes displayed on mobile phone screens are invisible to commonly used in-store laser scanners.

Mobeam technology converts – or mobeams – the barcode data into a beam of light that can be read by barcode scanners already found at store checkout counters. No additional point of sale (POS) equipment is needed.

P&G, one of the world’s leading coupon distributors, developed a partnership with mobeam through P&G’s open innovation Connect+Develop program, designed to bring leading innovation into P&G and share P&G innovation with others.

The P&G and mobeam partnership is aimed at exploring and testing a new, highly efficient method for consumers to redeem – and retailers to accept – coupons at the point of sale.

“Our vision with P&G is for the mobeam technology to be used and leveraged broadly by many leading CPG companies, with P&G and other key consumer goods partners as first adopters,” said mobeam CEO, Christopher Sellers.

The next step in the partnership is to work with leading phone companies to add the mobeam application into handheld phones and then to test the application and process with shoppers and selected retailers.

“We are excited about the potential for this new technology and our partnership with mobeam to make shopping simpler and faster for consumers. Couponing is a great way for shoppers to try new products or save on the trusted brands their families have come to love. If that can be easier, faster and less costly for shoppers and retailers, we want to help bring it to life,” said Jeff Weedman, VP of P&G Global Business Development.

Mobeam is working with handset manufacturers to engineer its light-based communications technology into new lines of handsets. P&G, mobeam and other partners expect to test the technology in market in 2012.

DUBLIN, IRELAND: Research and Markets has added Business Monitor International's "Malaysia Consumer Electronics Report Q1 2012" report to its offering.

Malaysia's consumer electronics devices market, defined as the addressable market for computing devices, mobile handsets and AV devices, was projected at about $11.5 million in 2012. This is expected to increase to $14.4 billion by 2016, driven by rising incomes and growing affordability of key products. Demand will grow at a CAGR of about 6 percent, as Malaysian consumers regain confidence.

BMI believes economic growth will moderate in 2012, but overall Malaysian spending on consumer electronics will remain robust in key product segments such as LED TV sets. Malaysia has also emerged as one of the fastest-growing regional smartphone markets. Vendors will continue to target products innovation to drive revenues, with growth areas including smartphones, notebooks and HDTV.

ComputersComputers accounted for about 24 percent of Malaysian consumer electronics spending in 2011. BMI forecasts Malaysian domestic market computer hardware sales (including notebooks and accessories) of $2.8 billion in 2012. Computer hardware CAGR for the 2011-2016 period is forecast at about 8 percent, with household PCs penetration in Malaysia still low, particularly in rural areas.

AVAV devices are expected to account for about 10 percent of Malaysian consumer electronics spending over BMI's five year forecast period. Malaysia's domestic AV device market is projected at $968 million in 2012. The market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5 percent between 2012-2016, to a value of almost $1.2 billion in 2016. In 2010, LED backlit models in the 40- and 42-inch range were popular, fuelled by promotions from retailers.

Mobile handsetsMalaysian mobile handset sales accounted for about 67 percent of Malaysian consumer electronics spending in 2011. Malaysian market handset sales are expected to grow to 9.4 million units in 2016, as mobile subscriber penetration passes 133 percent. Growth will be slower than in the preceding five years due to slowing subscriber growth, but opportunities in Malaysia's youthful market will be driven by demand for smartphones, which in 2012 could account for two thirds of Malaysian handset sales.

With consumers becoming increasingly more tech savvy, the desire to understand how their smartphones and tablets work continues to increase. Renaming Qualcomm Stadium to Snapdragon Stadium is an important step in increasing consumer awareness of Snapdragon processors, which serve as the "heart" of mobile devices and currently power more than 300 smartphones and tablets worldwide.

The stadium renaming, a collaboration between the City of San Diego, the San Diego Chargers and the San Diego Bowl Game Association, represents a first in the area of stadium naming sponsorships and capitalizes on a ten-day span when the stadium plays host to three nationally televised football games: the San Diego Chargers Dec. 18 matchup with the Baltimore Ravens; and the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl and Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl, taking place on Dec. 21 and Dec. 28, respectively.

With this stadium transformation Qualcomm aims to inform consumers about how Snapdragon processors help consumers do more on their mobile devices—such as watch HD video, play console-quality games and surf the Web—while maintaining the life of their battery for longer periods of time. Qualcomm will utilize a unique opportunity to promote its Snapdragon processors and reach millions of consumers in a high-impact and cost-effective manner. The combined three games are expected to have over 30 million TV viewers and 150,000 fans in attendance.

"Mobile is the biggest technology platform in human history, having a transformative impact on billions of people around the world," said Dr. Paul Jacobs, chairman and CEO of Qualcomm. "Naming Snapdragon Stadium will help us drive consumer awareness for Qualcomm's Snapdragon mobile processors and how they enhance the user experience on hundreds of millions of smartphones worldwide."

The first football game in Snapdragon Stadium will take place this Sunday night, December 18, featuring the San Diego Chargers vs. the Baltimore Ravens. Snapdragon Stadium will also play host to two bowl games. The San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl on Wednesday, December 21 will feature Louisiana Tech vs. TCU. The Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl on Wednesday, December 28 will pit the University of California, Berkeley against the University of Texas. The NFL Sunday Night Football game will be broadcast on NBC, while both bowl games will be broadcast nationally on ESPN.

"This is a first-of-its-kind effort to completely rename a stadium without changing naming rights," said Dean Spanos, chairman of the Board and president of San Diego Chargers. "We look forward to playing in Snapdragon Stadium and helping Qualcomm bring awareness to the technologies Snapdragon processors enable."

"The San Diego Bowl Game Association is excited to be on the leading edge of what could become a new trend in stadium and arena naming rights programs," said Bruce Binkowski, Executive Director, San Diego Bowl Game Association. "Both the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl and Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl are proud to provide considerable national visibility for Snapdragon processors."

"For more than 25 years, Qualcomm has served as a leader both within the mobile industry and the San Diego community, particularly with its sponsorship of Qualcomm Stadium – home of the Chargers," said San Diego Mayor, Jerry Sanders. "The Snapdragon Stadium transformation will raise awareness for Qualcomm, Snapdragon processors and the City of San Diego at a time of year where the American sports community has its attention turned towards 'America's Finest City.'"

Friday, December 16, 2011

ATLANTA & EDISON, USA: Echoworx, a leading provider of credential management and managed encryption services for complete email and data protection and Mformation, the leading global provider of mobile device management (MDM) technology, are pleased to announce a new reseller partnership; Mformation will be adding Echoworx’ mobilEncrypt ENDPOINT solutions for mobile to its mobile device management (MDM) offerings.

Michael Ginsberg, CEO for Echoworx, said: “Mobile security has become a major focus as employees embrace BYOD (bring your own device) and organizations try to secure the explosive growth of corporate information being accessed by mobile device users. With the Echoworx Platform, Mformation can now bridge the gap between MDM and encryption solutions for their customers, as the encryption application can be downloaded and activated without having to retrofit devices or go through complex setups.”

“Mobility is maturing into a business-critical part of the enterprise. Device management, security and encryption are core components of the enterprise mobility solution space,” said Todd DeLaughter, Mformation’s CEO. “Mformation and Echoworx solutions have flexible architectures, enabling them to easily integrate together. The combination of these solutions ensures that data on the mobile device is both secure and able to be managed. This is a compelling offer for enterprises as well as for organizations that serve the enterprise, such as Managed Service Providers.”

Mformation Enterprise Manager enables MSPs to provide a secure, customized mobile management environment to their enterprise customers, giving enterprise IT managers direct control of the handsets used by their employees, ranging from the latest Android and iOS devices to other smart mobile devices and computing devices. The solution works across all of the key mobile device platforms used in the enterprise, meeting a critical enterprise IT requirement. The Mformation solution helps enterprise customers to manage all phases of the mobile device and application lifecycle.

With mobilEncrypt ENDPOINT, iPhone, iPad and BlackBerry users can compose, send, download and receive secure, encrypted messages through their existing business email account. No additional components are required, since the application creates a native email experience. IT managers for their part can centrally manage the infrastructure “over-the-air” and assign user credentials, as well as revoke or suspend them if a device gets lost or stolen.

The solution is backed by a comprehensive public key infrastructure (PKI) credential management platform and globally recognized Certificate Authority. An Android version is scheduled for release this fall.

Chengdu, located in West China, the capital of Sichuan province, has gained fast development in the telecommunication industry in recent years, and has gradually become the third communication city after Beijing and Shenzhen. In the north, Beijing, as the country's political and cultural center, is home to a large number of enterprises in these sectors from different parts of the world.

In the south, the coastal city, Shenzhen, in Guangdong province, has always been at the forefront of the reforms and opening up, and has two industry leaders, Huawei and ZTE. However, Chengdu has managed to become a sort of third leg of this information and communication transformation.

Chengdu has a large talent pool for research and development. In the 1950s, China's State Council decided to set the city up as a communications technology R&D base to meet national defense demands, and in 1956 established the Chengdu University of Electronic Science and Technology to educate a large pool of communications technology personnel in research and development.

As for now, Chengdu has more than 70 research institutes, 30 plus enterprise technology centers, 50 plus state-level research labs, and around 40 institutes of higher education providing IT related programs, including Chengdu University of Electronic Science and Technology, Sichuan University, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu University of Information Technology, etc.

According to the latest public statistics, there are 2.27 million technicians and engineers working in the city, among them, of which 220,000 people are employed in the software industry. The Chengdu labor market in the sector is very stable with low turnover rate, 8 percent, in comparison to other cities in China.

"Go West" has become the irreversible trend of IT industryWhen the financial crisis hit the global IT industry in 2008, a series of transfers began to take place. Chengdu, with sound infrastructure, preferential policies, low operating costs, plenty of human resources, and good services, became one focus of this global IT industrial transfer.

As for November of 2011, there are now 207 of the Fortune Global 500 firms, including IBM, Alcatel, Siemens, GE, Cisco, Ericsson, SAP, and Accenture, operating in Chengdu. Of the world's top 20 software firms, 11 have a presence there. In October 2010, Forbes magazine put Chengdu at the top of its list of The World's Fastest-Growing Cities over the next decade.

In July of this year, Fortune magazine called Chengdu one of the best emerging business cities in the world. A senior economist from Asian Development Bank has noted that inland cities, such as Chengdu, have the conditions to attract firms from coastal metropolises who are trying to escape the high cost of land, production and traffic.

Currently, Chengdu has a large number of World-class enterprises, mainly covering three sectors in the communication industry. By November of this year, the world's major communications equipment manufacturers -- Ericsson, Huawei, Nokia, Siemens, Alcatel-Lucent, and ZTE -- all had research institutes there. Among them, Huawei research institute will gather over 10 000 engineers to focus on TD-LTE's research and development in line with China's 4G standard.

In the communications chip area, Freescale, Fujitsu, MediaTek, and Marvell are all in Chengdu; meanwhile, in mobile terminals, Foxconn, Dell, Lenovo, and TCL have successively located here. At present, 50 percent of all laptop computer chips are tested in Chengdu, and 20 percent of all computers worldwide, as well as 70 percent of Apple iPads will be produced here.

To share the technology innovation of mobile communication, build the exchange platform of industry information, and discover the future market opportunity of industries, Chengdu hi-tech zone and Chengdu Tianfu Software Park have organized two of China's professional summits, Connected World Forum in December of 2010 and 2011, focusing solely on next-generation mobile communications technology and business trends. The ideas and views generated at these summits have been leading the development of next generation mobile communication industry.

Chengdu, the emerging city of mobile communication, with a large talent pool and a booming industry environment, has gradually become the third city of China's telecommunication industry.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

PARIS, FRANCE: EXPWAY, the leading Electronic Service Guide (ESG) vendor and middleware provider for Mobile DTV and Siano, the world’s leading supplier of mobile broadcast DTV solutions, announced their partnership to deliver top-quality mobile devices.

Pairing Siano’s mobile ATSC silicon with EXPWAY’s middleware enables manufacturers to build their devices faster and to focus on brand-related issues, such as the look and feel of the device and the User Interface design. EXPWAY has ported its software on iOS, Android, Windows and Linux operating systems and this one-stop-shop approach works with all embedded devices, such as tablet computers, accessories, in-car devices and smartphones. In addition to the US, the two companies are collaborating on solutions for the mobile Pay-TV market in Japan (ISDB-Tmm).

“Device makers need complete packaged solutions to speed up their time-to-market,” said Ronen Jashek, VP Marketing of Siano. “EXPWAY and Siano have very complementary product lines. EXPWAY’s Mobile DTV middleware for mobile ATSC and for ISDB-Tmm is recognized as state of the art in the industry. EXPWAY’s server solutions are already provided to several broadcast networks in the US, which makes their client solution a natural match with Siano’s receiver solutions. Our mutual customers benefit from this partnership in that their products are guaranteed to work smoothly with mobile ATSC transmissions.”

“EXPWAY has a great opportunity with Siano reselling our software,” comments Ulla Saari, EXPWAY VP of Sales and Communications. “In fact, Siano is the only ATSC-M/H silicon vendor today that sells chips commercially, when all the other vendors in this market manufacture chips for their in-house brands only. In parallel, the major broadcast networks are lighting up their stations as we speak, so 2012 will finally be the year when commercial devices will also be available in stores. And we are ready,” adds Saari.

The solution developed by EXPWAY and Siano has already been adopted by several partners and customers, including Elgato, a leading Apple accessory provider.

TOKYO, JAPAN: After the acquisition of equity stake in Total Immersion in July 2011, KDDI is now launching SATCH SDK as the realization of this strategic partnership. In addition, KDDI is pleased to announce the release of several mobile applications using SATCH developed with major Japanese companies.

SATCH SDK will be available for free as of December 15, 2011 for 3,000 content providers feeding KDDI’s mobile application marketplace, called “au one Market”. SATCH SDK will allow them to develop state of the art mobile AR apps from a single authoring environment.

SATCH utilizes the most advanced Computer Vision features available to date, provided by Total Immersion’s AR software suite D’Fusion:* Instant image recognition.* Superior tracking ability (with or without a marker, including face-tracking).* Rendering capability.

Total Immersion was the first company to provide markerless tracking solutions, opening the path to the most natural human-machine interactions. D’Fusion for SATCH benefits from 11 years of experience in developing best-in-class AR solutions, and countless innovations setting the trend in the AR ecosystem.

HILLSBOROUGH, USA: Exact Ventures found the total next generation network (NGN) voice and IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) core market contracted 20 percent sequentially in 3Q11 to $1.5 billion, due in part by seasonal weakness, delays in capital spending, some of which will boost 4Q11, and volatility in the IMS Core market.

"The SBC market continues to experience strong growth and to attract investment. Metaswitch recently entered the market with its new Perimeta product line and Avaya acquired security and E-SBC vendor Sipera to bolster its Aura unified communications portfolio and specifically its SIP Trunking solutions," said Greg Collins, founder and principal analyst at research firm Exact Ventures.

"Such investment is likely to continue, as VoIP services still comprise less than one quarter of fixed lines and a negligible amount of wireless lines. As the transition to VoIP continues, so will the growth of the SBC and VAS market segments."

Despite contracting on a sequential basis, the IMS core equipment market was up year-over-year. Market growth is forecast to accelerate in 2012 as IMS continues to gradually displace NGN voice equipment and as voice-over-LTE deployments begin to boost the market.